Evicting a tenant takes nine months and costs £2,000 says agency

7th May 2017

It can take up to nine months to evict a tenant who isn’t paying their rent, according to an analysis by an online letting agency – and it can cost a cool £2,000.

The agency StudentTenant.com says landlords hoping to remove tenants are waiting upwards of four months to retrieve control of their rental property if the court eviction order is left undefended by the tenant, and much much longer if it is defended.

The agency has undertaken research with a residential eviction specialist; this shows that it costs £1,981 to get the property back.

This involves serving two months’ notice under Section 21 which costs £120; the tenant is not legally required to leave the property.

A Property Possession Order, required if the tenant does not leave the property, will cost £685 and can take up to six months, depending on how busy the court is, according to the agency.

Using a High Court bailiff costs £1,176 – when a landlord is granted a possession order, the court will set a date for the tenant to leave the property which is usually between four and six weeks. Only a court bailiff can evict the tenant from the property.

So StudentTenant says that a typical eviction could take nine months and cost £1,981 – notwithstanding lost rent and the costs of rectifying any damage.

“When it comes to removing non-paying tenants, the government needs to make changes to make it quicker to remove a tenant in this kind of situation” says a website spokesman.